Abstract
The new species Chelodina (Chelodina) murrayi is described from the late Miocene Alcoota Local Fauna of central Australia, in the Northern Territory. The new species is based on shell fragments and can be diagnosed by a ventrally reflexed anterior margin of the plastron, a ventrally narrowed cervical scute and strongly dorsally curved margins of the carapace extending from approximately peripheral two to peripheral nine or ten as well as by a unique combination of characters. Within Chelodina the new species is part of the nominal subgenus and within that subgenus it is most closely related to the Chelodina (Chelodina) novaeguineae species group. This is not only the oldest record but also the most southerly occurrence of this species group.
Highlights
Chelodina is an extant genus of chelid turtle found in Australia, New Guinea, East Timor and Roti Island, Indonesia (Georges & Thomson, 2010)
Lapparent de Broin & Molnar (2001) point out that a posterior plastral fragment figured by Gaffney (1981, Fig. 18A) belongs to Chelodina based on the rounded shape of the posterolateral margin of the ischiadic scar on the dorsal surface of the xiphiplastron and the rounded nature of the fine tubercles that decorate its ventral surface
The foramen is large in Chelodina (Chelodina) (e.g., diameter of 2.2 mm in C. (C.) longicollis; NTM R27168) and Chelodina (Macrochelodina) (e.g., C. (M.) expansa; Goode, 1967, Fig. 134) whereas it is comparatively tiny in members of the short-necked clade (Fig. 7A)
Summary
Chelodina is an extant genus of chelid turtle found in Australia, New Guinea, East Timor and Roti Island, Indonesia (Georges & Thomson, 2010). Lapparent de Broin & Molnar (2001) point out that a posterior plastral fragment figured by Gaffney (1981, Fig. 18A) belongs to Chelodina based on the rounded shape of the posterolateral margin of the ischiadic scar on the dorsal surface of the xiphiplastron and the rounded nature of the fine tubercles that decorate its ventral surface This fragment comes from the late Pleistocene, or Naracourtean, Katapiri Formation of Lake Kanunka, in the Tirari Desert of central South Australia. A strongly developed seam representing the junction of the abdominal and pectoral scutes extends transversely across the ventral surface, approximately one quarter of the length of the bone from its posterior margin. There is no seam present near the anteromedial corner of the bone where the medial symphysis meets the suture between the hyoplastron and the entoplastron This indicates that the posterior end of the intergular scute terminated on the entoplastron and did not extend.
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